


Femme Fatale

by wolfsrainrules



Series: Flicker Series [10]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: AND SHIT HIT THE FAN, And the biggest of Bad Asses, Either of those facts actually, Femme Fatale, Gen, Not that she lets anyone KNOW that, She would have been perfectly content to hide all of that-, Skull has a Secondary Mist Flame, Skull is Cloud Officer, Skull is Femme Fatale, Skull is Harmonized to Xanxus, Skull is a Girl, Unconventional Families, Unconventional Uses for Dying Will Flames, then the Future That Never Was Happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 03:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfsrainrules/pseuds/wolfsrainrules
Summary: Skull would have been perfectly willing to hide the fact she was female and the World's Greatest Assassin for the rest of time. The Future That Never Was threw a wrench into that plan, however.At least she got her Sky out of it, in the end.





	Femme Fatale

Skull was _very careful_ to hide the truth.  
  
Very careful.  
  
She wasn’t blind, she saw how the mafia treated men and women differently. Woman were expected to be a certain way, and to be as they ‘should be’.  
  
It riled her inner Cloud quite a bit. She would not bow to _anyone_ , much less _expectations_. She’d be chained and blocked at every turn if they knew.  
  
So it was simple to hide her gender, to pretend.  
  
For her freedom, for the right to wander as she wished, to do as she wanted…Skull would pretend.  
  
She became ‘he’.  
  
It wasn’t like anyone could tell while she had the body of a two-year-old, and when she had been an adult her suit had hidden her curves and chest.  
  
It made her laugh.  
  
The Strongest Seven, and none of them had put the pieces together.  
  
Skull regularly blessed her ability to _act_ , the ability to be exactly what was expected of her.  
  
(Sometimes she wanted to hit the others- they _knew_ she was the world’s best ‘stuntman’. They _knew_ that came with the ability to be a showman. To show exactly what the crowd wanted to see.)  
  
(But they were absolutely _sure_ she wouldn’t be able to lie to them- to show them exactly what they wanted to see.)  
  
(Fools)  
  
Skull wondered what they would think if they ever learned she was the famed _Femme Fatale_.  
  
A freelance woman assassin that always got to her targets be being exactly what they couldn’t resist. By showing them exactly what they wanted to see.  
  
Tales of her beauty were whispered throughout the mafia, of her skill, of her ability to be anything.  
  
Skull was pretty proud of her reputation. She’d worked _hard_ for it.  
  
The only reason it worked at all was her secondary Flame. She’d never told _anyone_ about them, but Skull had a rather strong secondary Mist Flame. A Flame she’d worked _hard_ to control. She was a Misty Cloud.  
  
(Her instincts were havoc inducing sometimes. She wouldn’t be chained by people or expectations thanks to her inner Cloud but her inner Mist cackled at the idea of pulling the wool over the other Arcobaleno’s eyes in such a way.)  
  
It was simple to cloak herself with Mist and be whatever she wanted- whatever or whoever she needed to be to get to her targets in whatever age or body type.  
  
Her internal use of her Cloud Flames had only helped her to use her Mist Flames internally. No one ever thought to look for an _internally_ applied illusion, an illusion anchored  _inside_. So they never managed to dispel them- not even when they applied Flames to her skin- because there was nothing externally to dispel. They would have to flood her body with their Flames, and find exactly where she had anchored her illusion internally before they managed to dispel them.  
  
It was unconventional thinking, but Skull _had_ been a civilian before the mafia. She’d never been told what Flames could or couldn’t do, what the limits were. So she’d experimented and found that the only thing that limited Flames was the Will and Belief of their user.  
  
Skill supposed she should have _known_ it wouldn’t last forever. She _had_ known. She’d just…really, really hoped it would last a long while.  
  
The Future That Never Was had ruined that.  
  


* * *

  
She ‘woke up’ from the memory dump with wide eyes, completely shocked by what had happened.  
  
First: She was the Varia Cloud. Harmonized with Xanxus and everything.  
  
The man had had to **_work_** for it too. And he had. He’d ‘courted’ her properly as a Sky. Offered her freedom and at the same time a place for roots. He’d been the second to realize she was a woman (the first was actually Tsunayoshi) and he hadn’t cared. He’d been the first to figure out she was _Femme Fatale_ and the man had _laughed_ at her antics. She’d found a _home_ with the Varia, a **_family_** that was loyal and insane in equal measures, who could give her the thrill of the impossible job.  
  
Secondly: The Arcobaleno now _knew_ she was a woman. And a Mist secondary. And dangerous.  
  
She’d gone out swinging, utterly enraged, Mist and Cloud Flames surging in a storm around her body. She’d been gunning for Byakuran, and she had shed every mask she had ever worn, unleashed her inner Fatale. She had refused to go out thanks to poison, to waste away slowly in agony until she died too feeble to even lift a spoon.  
  
She remembered walking to Xanxus after making that choice, soft tremors from the beginning of the poison shaking her frame. She’d jumped to his shoulder and pressed her forehead to his.  
  
She had let her Flames surge and wash over her Sky, relaxing and basking when his Sky Flames had risen up in response. She had sat with him for a long while, saying goodbye without words, and thanking him for everything. He’d given her his blessing there too.  
  
“I will take him down, or I will go down in a blaze of fire.” She had sworn it to her Sky.  
  
And he had given her a promise in turn, his voice rumbling dark silk and enraged that two of his own were being attacked with poison in the air “If you fall, know that I will ensure he regrets it.”  
  
Skull had walked out of that room furious she had been made to make the choice she had. Her family- because the Arcobaleno _were_ family as well- and herself being poisoned because Byakuran couldn’t face them himself at full power and _win_. The Little Boss dead by sniper. Being given the choice of letting her Sky and her Elements, her family, watch her waste away slowly in agony or to go out in a blaze of fire.  
  
When she arrived, the entire battlefield had shuddered and _twisted_ as she willed reality to bend to her demands. Her Cloud Flames had supplied an endless rain of knifes, and daggers, and when she got tired of those, a chain-sickle had come out. Reach wasn’t an issue- she could extend her reach with her Cloud Flames.  
  
She had **_carved_** through the scum in her way without pause. Her eyes had been fixed on Byakuran as her goal. She’d glided through the battlefield and the changing realities like most graceful of dancers, every movement one of an apex predator on the hunt with nothing to lose. She’d left swathes of dead in her wake as she Raged.  
  
In the end, she’d taken down two-thirds of the army in her way, and she’d made it to Byakuran. Their battle had shaken the Earth, orange crashing into the deep violet-indigo of shadows.  
  
She hadn’t succeeded in killing the man- the poison had been chipping away at her from the moment she stepped outside. Battling the way she had had only made the effects take place faster.  
  
She _had_ left him with a large scar from his left shoulder to right hip, and she had made sure he would carry the brand of her chain around his neck.  
  
Byakuran had almost died that day. The only reason he had survived was his minions had retreated with him. Skull could remember smiling, blood bubbling from her lips, her wounds painting bloody war paint across her body, and throwing her head back to laugh even as she gathered her Flames close to her core. She’d pulled them tightly as she could manage before allowing them to explode from her.  
  
She’d killed the rest of the army left to detain her while a few Suns escaped with Byakuran. And then she had collapsed, spent and wheezing as the poison spread like fire in her veins, a bloody macabre grin on her lips.  
  
Her hands flew to her chest automatically. She could still feel the way breathing had burned like fire.  
  


* * *

  
Xanxus went perfectly still on his throne as memories poured into his mind.  
  
He remembered deciding he would court Skull to be his Cloud. He remembered how he had had to _work_ for it, how it had taken him months of work to even get her into the mansion. He remembered thinking anyone that couldn’t see _why_ Xanxus went through all that effort was an idiot.  
  
He remembered succeeding and how his instincts had **_purred_** as the last of his Elements settled into place. Feeling though the Harmony and the bond that Skull was not only a Cloud but also a Mist. A powerful Mist who could enhance her own illusions with her Cloud Flames. The many hours Mammon had sat with Skull both learning new applications for her own Flames and teaching Skull how to better use her own. Discovering Skull was a female, and smirking when he realized the only other person to know was Tsunayoshi.  
  
**_Laughing_** when he found out she was the famous _Femme Fatale_ : an assassin that the Varia had had their eyes on for ages thanks to her record. Basking in the chaos and havoc his Guardians got into together. Smirking to himself as he wondered what the world would think if they knew the supposed weakest Arcobaleno was his Cloud Guardian and that she was _flourishing_ with the Varia.  
  
His inner Sky had **_purred_** as he watched his Cloud flourish with his family, as he watched the bonds of trust and loyalty bloom, as his full set integrated together.  
  
And then Byakuran happened.  
  
Xanxus had been forced to watch as airborne poison took first his Mist down, and then affected his Cloud.  
  
He had known the moment Skull came to him, light tremors from the poison shaking her body, and utterly silent as she jumped to his shoulder what she was going to do. He had known as she pressed their foreheads together and her Flames surged over him what she was saying without saying a word.  
  
He had been unable to deny her the right to choose her death.  
  
Instead he had bathed her in his Flames, shown her his acceptance and welcome. Shown her his resolve and acknowledgement.  
  
Instead he had made her a promise singing with his Will and Resolve. A promise he had **_kept_**.  
  
“If you fall, know that I will ensure he regrets it.”  
  
He had been watching as Skull walked onto that battlefield, her head high and her back straight, her spine steel. The camera she had agreed to wear as well as the one that followed after her for a third person point of view had shown him exactly what she had done to her surroundings with Mist Flames- showing ghostly indigo-tinted images of what others were seeing- and he had been witness to the bonfire of Flame that surged in her steps. He had witnessed her crusade through the army, had grinned sharp and _proud_ that he had been the Sky to Call this powerful, _powerful_ Cloud to his side, as she displayed the fact she was utterly without a doubt **Varia Quality**.  
  
He'd watched his Cloud clash with Byakuran and stand toe to toe with him, watched her carve her marks into his skin. He’d watched as the poison spread through her body and how she refused to waver despite that.  
  
He witnessed Byakuran retreating with Suns frantically trying to heal the damage Skull had done.  
  
And he saw Skull make the choice to turn her Flames into a bomb- how she wiped out an _entire_ army despite being weakened by the poison taking its toll on her body.  
  
He **_roared_** when he felt the second of his Elements fade, as the bond he formed with Skull severed in death.  
  
He carved a path of Wrath through Byakuran’s forces in retaliation, his Elements Raging beside him over the loss of two of their own.  
  
And then he sent a video of Skull Raging to the Little Boss’ safe house.  
  
He knew Tsunayoshi had tucked the other Arcobaleno away with him before the sniper had taken him down. He knew the Arcobaleno were still there in that safe house and he wanted them to see Skull as she was. No masks or expectations, no preconceived notions. He wanted them to **_look_** at Skull and realize she was the **_World’s Strongest Cloud_** for a reason.  
  
That she had never _been_ nor would she ever _be_ weak.  
  


* * *

  
Earth-shattering.  
  
It was the only word the Arcobaleno could think of when the memories of the Future That Never Was come back to them.  
  
They had ‘known’ Skull was male.  
  
They had ‘known’ Skull was the weakest.  
  
‘Known’ she was a Lackey.  
  
They had ‘ _known_ ’.  
  
Except they had ‘known’ **_nothing_**.  
  
Skull was female.  
  
Skull was _Femme Fatale_.  
  
Skull was ****_Varia._  
  
Xanxus’ Cloud Guardian.  
  
Skull had raged across a battlefield and slaughtered the entire army in her way so she could take a hit at Byakuran.  
  
While poisoned.  
  
And yet she had been the one to come closest to killing him, had left scars across his chest and around his neck. _Would_ have killed him if not for the Suns that had taken his bleeding body and fled from her.  
  
She had been spectacular, every inch an assassin, as she glided through the battlefield leaving death in her wake.  
  
Earth-shattering was a good word.


End file.
